A street vendor preparing "pan" (betel leaves slacked with lime and mixed with other ingredients). Verso: Early detection of cancer saves lives- World Health Day 7 April 1970 World Health Day marks the anniversary of the coming into force of the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) on 7 April 1948. Parel Street, in the centre of Bombay, lies quietly under a scorching sun, its pavement spattered with blood-red stains. Every few feet, reddish brown stains appear. They are actually the telltale traces of betel chewers who carry wads of betel leaves in their mouths all day long and pass the time spitting. "Pan" is prepared in little shops where batel leaves are coated with slaked lime, and to which tobacco and other ingredients are sometimes added. Pan dealers a regular part of the city life; their wares are cheap and act to curb the appetitie. Pan also increases salvation considerably which results in the steets being speckled with spit. But these stains are not the only unpleaseant effect of pan. Research workers strongly suspect that pan causes cancer of the mouth which is frequently in India. Our photo: A pan dealer in Bombay.
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World Health Organization; Source: Record; Research date: 20151009